Pen to paper

Remember the days of hand-written communication; thank you notes, birthday cards, love letters? The days of putting pen to paper in hopes of writing a thoughtful and inspiring message to another are long gone.  Texting is now the new normal. We all know it’s an efficient way to communicate but…. is it effective?

Texting of friends and family is the trend, and so it texting co-workers and supervisors. Should you be texting your boss or coworkers the way you text your friends? The answer is no.  Here are a few reasons why:

• Texts are usually an abbreviated way of communication and the intended message may not come across the way you think it will.

• Tone may be misread depending on how you are TYPING YOUR TEXT.

• Not everyone is up to speed on text abbreviations and your text may be confusing and/or frustrating… SMH.

When you need to communicate with your boss or co-workers the best way is to pick up the phone and call them.  If you must send a text, make sure that you use proper English, keep it formal and to the point, use please and thank you, and avoid using emoji’s or GIFs. A little effort will go a long way to boost the effectiveness of communication via text.